Dry fine crusher

ABSTRACT

A dry fine crusher adapted to crush and partially grind portland cement &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;clinkers&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; and similar materials such as pozzuolana or other rocklike materials. The crusher includes a single entry port for the material to be crushed and partially ground as well as an upper exit port for finished dust material and partly finished material known as &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;fines,&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; and a lower exit port for the discharge of material for further processing. The crusher includes a plurality of aligned crushing ring liners spaced apart a preselected distance and a weighted crushing roller freely rotatable within the rings to crush and partially grind material therebetween for discharge through one of the respective exit ports.

United States Patent 72 Inventor Robert F. Dore 2,139,358 12/1938 Ericsoi'l 241/171? Los Angeles, Calif. 2,351,870 6/1944 Newhouse 241/54 [21] Appl. No. 839,498 2,480,085 8/1949 Mitchell 241/176 X [22] Filed July 7,1969 2,909,330 10/1959 l-lardinge 241/58 X 2:23;: Primary Examiner-Donald G. Kelly Los g Cal. Attorney Huebner& Worrel 54 DRY FINE CRUSHER 1 l4 C'aims, 17 Drawing Figs. ABSTRACT: A dry fine crusher adapted to crush and partially grind portland cement clinkers" and similar materials such as [52] US. Cl 241/51, pozzuolana or other rocklike materials The crusher includes 3 241/541 241/85 single entry port for the material to be crushed and partially [51] Int. Cl. ..B02c 17/02, ground as we as an upper i port for finished dust material B029 7/10, 21/00 and partly finished material known as fines," and a lower exit [50] Fleld of Search 241/47, 51, port for the discharge of material f further processing h 52,54, 85, 171, 176,180,5 crusher includes a plurality of aligned crushing ring liners spaced apart a preselected distance and a weighted crushing [56] References cued roller freely rotatable within the rings to crush and partially UNITED STATES PATENTS grind material therebetween for discharge through one of the 1,105,713 8/1914 Sturtevant 241/85 respective exit ports.

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FINISHED B05587}: D025 PRUDUCT smnnee M BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Prior to the method and apparatus for increasing production of Portland cement and similar material, described in my copending U.S. Pat. application, Ser. No. 589,134, filed Oct. 24, 1966, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,490,702 the production of the finished Portland cement was carried on by the use of a conventionalball mill in a closed circuit. This method and apparatus is inefficient, slow and to a great extent cannot reduce the Portland cement clinkers" to the micron size necessary for certain specific specifications. One of the main problems in a closed-circuit ball mill operation is that the frictional heat buildup within the ball mill drum can very readily be raised or built up to over 220 F.

It is generally accepted in the industry that a frictional heat buildup of 220 in cement clinker" materials, with gypsum additives, during the finishing grinding process tends to convert the gypsum fraction into a form of plaster of Paris, which produces a subgrade quality of finished Portland cement.

With the advent of my copending application identified above, certain equipment and methods were developed and claimed, which reduces the frictional heat of the material as it is being ground and therefore improves the quality of the finished products, as well as increases the production of the finished products, in terms of barrels of desirable specifications of Portland cement in the same interval of time.

One of the devices to be utilized with the subject matter of my copending application is a crusher contemplating the use of Drum Structures for Ring and Roll Mills similar to those described and claimed in my U.S. Pat. No. 2,478,467.

While the crushing roll and ring structure described and claimed in the above identified patent was and is practical in carrying out a wet crushing and grinding operation, wherein water is used as a carrier, such structure cannot be used in the production of Portland cement clinkers into desirable products of Portland cement.

The recovery of Portland cement either with or without gypsum additives requires the crushing, grinding and separation to be done by a dry process. To apply water to the Portland cement destroys the product, by converting the product into concrete.

Therefore, the present invention is an improvement and amplification of the crusher in my pending patent application and is directed toward a dry crusher wherein frictional heat control of Portland cement clinkers is well within recognized limits, which has hereto been difficult to maintain and caused a destruction of additives such as gypsum.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The crusher herein described and claimed includes a rotary drum formed of a plurality of grinding ring liners, spaced one from the other, and a freely rotatable crushing roller contained therein, wherein the grinding and crushing operation takes place between the lower surfaces of the grinding roller and the grinding ring liners in an area on the descending side of the crushing roller, known as the autogenous action zone. Crushing and grinding of feed materials takes place against a continuous blanket of incoming feed material.

The crusher is provided with a single entrance for material and an upper exit for finished material or dust and partially finished material called fines, as well as a lower discharge port for material which has been crushed and partially ground but is not of sufficient micron size to be discharged through the upper port.

Further this invention provides for a cooling of the material being crushed and partially ground, during the operation of the crusher, which will reduce the temperature of the material as it passes out either the upper or lower discharge port.

A further object of the invention is to provide a diffuser unit adjacent to the upper discharge port, which will assist in deflecting material of an oversized nature downward so that gravity will carry the material out through the lower discharge port.

2 DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and other advantages will become apparent from the following description and drawings wherein:

FIG. I is a side elevational view of the dry crusher, including a material feed injector mechanism associated with the crusher;

FIG. 2 is a back elevational view of the crusher taken on line 22 of F IG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the crusher taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 1, and showing an air-intake port as well as a door therebelow, which may be removed for the installation or removing of a crushing roller;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the crusher taken on line 44 of FIG. I;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the crusher taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a view taken on line 6-6 of FIG. 2 illustrating the details of the rotary power means to rotate the crusher;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional detail view showing the grinding roller in position within the drum and the autogenous action zones created between the crushing roller and the respective rings of the drum;

FIG. 8 is a detailed sectional view taken on line 8-8 of FIG. 7 showing shims inserted between the respective grinding-ring liners to assure proper spaced intervals between each of the respective rings;

FIG. 9 is a detailed sectional view taken on line 9-9 of FIG. 7 of the spaces created between the respective rings and illustrating the flow of the crushed and partially ground material from the interior of the drum formed by the grinding ring liners, to the annular exterior passage;

FIG. 10 is a view of one of the shims illustrated in FIG. 8;

FIG. 11 is a detailed view, partially in cross section and exploded, of a takeup fitting adapted to hold the grinding-ring liners and the crusher heads together;

FIG. 12 is a detailed sectional view taken on line 12-12 of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a partially section view of the takeup fitting taken on line 13-13 ofFIG.11;

FIG. M is a partial cross-sectional view of the takeup fitting at the other end, taken on line 14-14 of FIG. 11;

FIG. 15 is a detailed view of one of the rotary drive means and a support for the crusher housing;

FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view of the diffuser unit taken on line l6ll6 ofFIG. 4; and

FIG. 17 is a schematic illustration of one use of the crusher as it can be placed in the processing circuit for the acceleration of the production of Portland cement, as described and claimed in my copending U.S. application, Ser. No. 589,l34, filed Oct. 24, I96

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The dry crusher generally designated 20 is preferably mounted on a base member, designated 22, preferably constructed of structural steel l-beams 24, to which is secured by welding or other means a generally flat horizontal top plate 26. Additionally, there is provided a front closure plate 28 and a rear closure plate 30. The plate 26 is provided with an opening 32 to be subsequently explained.

Extending vertically from the base 22 are a pair of front support posts 34 bolted to the top plate 26 by means of bolts 36 and a pair of rear support posts 38, bolted to the baseplate 26 by means of bolts 40. The respective posts 34 and 38 extend upwardly to a point above the crusher unit 20. Each of the pairs of posts 34 and 38 include top cross supports 42 and 44 respectively. The cross support bars 42 and 44 are bridged by side cross support bars 46 and 48.

Suspended from the cross support bars 44, 46 and 48 are a plurality of adjustable housing-support rods 50 which include turnbuckles 52. Secured to the adjustable rods 50 is a semicircular upper housing 54, best seen in FIGS. l and 4, preferably formed of plate steel, having a clamping flange 56 and 58 at the bottom of each side of the housing, as viewed in FIG. 4. At the upper portion of housing 54 it is broken and a frustoconical upper exit port 60 is secured therein, which actually breaks the semicircular configuration of the housing and communicates with the interior of the crusher 20.

Formed in the housing 54 are a pair of inspection doors 62 on each side, see FIG. 4, which include handle means 64 and hinge means 66. These inspection doors 62 may be lifted to view the outer part of the crusher drum and to make minor adjustments thereon.

A semicircular lower housing 68 extends downward from the upper housing 54 and includes a pair of flanges 70 and 72, which mate with respective flanges 56 and 58 and are bolted together by means of bolts 74.

As with the upper housing 54, the lower housing also includes a lower exit port 76 which extends downwardly from the housing and breaks the semicircular configuration of the lower housing 68 and communicates with the interior of the crusher 20. Both the frustoconical upper exit port 60 and the lower exit port 76 include throat portions 78 and 80 respectively. The lower exit port 76 extends downwardly through the opening 32 in the plate 26.

In order to retain the lower housing 68 in a fixed position, there is provided a pair of strut numbers 82 and 84, which extend vertically from a pair of pillow block bases 86 and 88. The strut numbers 82 and 84 include struts 90 and 92 which are bolted with shims or otherwise secured to the lower housing 68.

Thus, it can be seen that the upper housing 54 and lower housing 68 are maintained in stationary positions through the structural vertical supports 34 and 38 and strut numbers 82 and 84 affixed to the base member 22.

Rotatably mounted within and slightly spaced from the housings 54 and 68 is a drum member generally designated 94. The drum member 94 includes a circular forward crusher head 96 and an aligned rear crusher head 98, both preferably formed of steel plate. Extending inwardly form the periphery of the crusher heads 96 and 98 are corresponding annular inwardly extending rim portions 100 and 102 as best seen in FIG. 5. The inner surface 104 of the annular inwardly extending rim portions 100 and 102 are preferably tapered from the exterior downwardly and inwardly, such as is illustrated in FIG. 5. Such configuration will help to deflect any of the material within an annular discharge channel 106 created between the housings 54 and 68 and the drum member 94.

Each of the crusher heads 96 and 98 includes an annular trunnion tire 108 and 110, preferably formed of crain rail steel, which are disposed around the perimeter of each of the respective crusher heads 96 and 98. The trunnion tires are secured to the perimeter of the heads 96 and 98 by means of a plurality of trunnion tire lugs 112, which are welded to the tires I08 and are of angle iron construction, and are bolted to the crusher heads by means of bolts 114.

Each of the crusher head members 96 and 98 are provided with a plurality of spaced-apart aligned openings 116, extending through each of the heads preferably at the base of the inner surface 104 of the rim portions 100, as best seen in FIG. 11. Extending between the respective crusher heads 96 and 98 and extending therethrough in each of the openings 116 are a plurality of preferably I-beam construction, drum crossmember supports 118. Each of the I-beam drum crossmember supports 118 includes threaded studs 120 and 122. Preferably each of the studs are bifurcated and grip the center section of the I-beam and are welded thereto, such as is illustrated in FIG. 12.

The I-beam crossmember supports 118 are held in position on the rear crusher head 98 by means of a washer 124 surrounding the stud 120 and a second washer 126 reduced in size, and a nut 128.

At the front forward crusher head 96 surrounding the stud 122 is a takeup fitting 130. This fitting 130 includes a washer 132 and first nut I34. Surrounding the stud 122 and washer 132 is a collar 136, which has one end bearing against the crusher head 96 and an open rear end 138, against which is positioned an arcuate-shaped high-pressure washer 140. Bearing against the washer is a washer 142 of reduced size and a takeup nut 144, which is adapted to be tightened against the washer and flattened. Surrounding the stud 122 is a compression spring 146 to create tension against the washer 140.

After the drum member 94 has been completely assembled each of the respective takeup nuts 144 can be tightened circumferentially therearound to assure the complete assembly of the unit.

Each of the I-beam crossmember supports 118 includes longitudinally extending bar stock extensions 148 on the top surface of the I-beam member 118 as best seen in FIG. 7.

Suspended between the respective I-beam crossmember supports I18 and resting directly on the elongated bar stock extensions 148 are a plurality of grinding-ring liners 150. As can be seen from FIG. 5, each of the respective grinding-ring liners are in vertical parallel relationship one to the other and are actually in shape O-rings. Preferably the grinding-ring liners are prepared from tempered steel and on one side 151 of each of the grinding-ring liners the side is tapered approximately 15' from the inner surface 152 to the outer surface 154.

Each of the grinding-ring liners is spaced from the next by means of spacer shims 156. The spacer shims are mounted atop the I-beam crossmember supports 118, such as shown in FIG. 7, and include a recess 158 of a size slightly larger than the width of the elongated bar stock extensions 148, so that the shims 156 may be mounted thereon and circular movement prevented. Each of the shims 156 are provided with openings 160, which are adapted to receive cotter pins I62 to retain the spacers between the respective grinding-ring liners 150. Thus, it will be seen that with the positioning of the spacers, such as illustrated in FIG. 8, between the respective grinding liners 150, annular or peripheral discharge openings 164, such as seen in FIG. 9, will be created to allow material which has been crushed and ground to exit from the grinding chamber into the channel 106 where it may be discharged, to be subsequently explained.

Each of the grinding-ring liners is independent one from the other and in the event of worn or broken liners only the worn or broken ring liner needs to be replaced.

Further, when the plurality of the grinding-ring liners 150, such as shown in FIG. 5, are in position between the I-beam crossmember supports 118 a horizontal crushing or grinding surface is created across the plurality of inner surfaces 152 of the grinding-ring liners 150.

Once the grinding-ring liners 150 have been inserted between the respective forward and rearward crusher heads 96 and 98 and the takeup fittings 130 have been tightened, it is preferable to position compression rings 153 annularly around the l-beam member supports 118, such as is shown in FIGS. 5 and 7. These compression rings include turnbuckles 155 for cinching the respective compression rings tight around the lbeam support members 118. On each of the bottom surfaces of the crossmember supports 118 there are positioned saddles 157 which include a cutout portion to receive the compression rings 153. Preferably the saddles are welded to the l-beam support members 118 and as the turnbuckles 155 are tightened, there will be an applied equalized pressure to all of the I-beam crossmember supports 118 and also to the grinding-ring liners 150 so that the working load including avoirdupois weight, the driven power centrifugal force buildup and momentum of the respective drum member 94 will be shared by all of the I-beam crossmember supports I18, whether the drum member 94 is running empty or is loaded with a full charge of material being crushed and ground therein.

Mounted within the drum member 94 and resting upon the innet surfaces 152 of the grinding-ring liners 150 is a freely rotatable crushing roller, designated 166. In preferred construction, the roller includes a cylinder 168, preferably of steel, which is fitted with end plates 169 with a center pipe 170 extending therebetween having a hollow bore 171. To give weight to the roller 166 it is preferred that lead 172 be poured in the cylinder 1168 around the pipe 170.

In order to position the crushing roller 166 within the drum member 94, there may be provided an opening, unnumbered, in the forward crusher head 96, which is covered by a roller hatch cover 174.- I

Any type of conventional lift means may be utilized to pick up the roller 166 and insert it through the hatch opening into the drum 94. Once the crushing roller is in position thehatch cover 174 is positioned over the opening by means of bolts 176.

Centrally located in the forward crusher head 96 is an opening 177 and extending out from the opening is an end cone 178 having a forward circular opening 180. This opening 180 is covered by a filter screen 182 to prevent foreign matter from being pulled in through the opening 180 as air is sucked into the drum member 94, to be subsequently explained.

Opposite the opening 177 in the forward crusher head 96 is an opening 181 in the rear crusher head 98, and projecting outwardly and surrounding the opening 181 is an end cone 184 similar in construction to the end cone 178. This end cone 184 has an opening 186 at the rear end thereof.

Once the entire drum member 94 has been assembled, as previously described, it is mounted on a rotary drive means 188. The rotary drive means 188 preferably includes rightand left-hand pairs of roller pillow blocks 190, mounted on bases 86 and 88, such as shown in FIG. 6. Each of the roller blocks 190 includes adjustable bearing means 191. A rear trunnion wheel 194 is supported on bearings 191 through an axle 195. Said rear trunnion roller wheel 194 is also provided with marginal annular flanges 196.

The forward trunnion roller wheel 198 has a wider bearing surface than the wheel 194 and does not preferably include any flanges. The forward trunnion roller wheel 198 is mounted between the bearing member means 191 by means of a shaft 200. Thus, each of the trunnion roller wheels 194 and 198 at the right-hand side, as seen in FIG. 6, are freewheeling and not driven.

Referring to the left side of FIG. 6, there is shown a driven rear trunnion wheel 202 of the same configuration as the trunnion wheel 194.

The roller wheel 202 is mounted between the bearing means 194 with an axle 204, which extends through the bearing 191 to a flexible coupling 206. Extending forward from the flexible coupling 206 is a second axle 208 aligned with the axle 204, which extends through the forward bearing means 191 and through a forward trunnion roller wheel 210, similar in construction to the forward trunnion wheel 198.

Again referring to the left-hand portion of FIG. 6, the axle 204 extends rearwardly from the trunnion roller wheel 202 to a speed reducer 212, and extending from the speed reducer is a drive shaft 214, onto which is journaled a drive pulley 216.

In order to rotate the trunnion roller wheels 202 and 210 preferably a reversible electric motor 218 is mounted on the top plate 26 of the base 22, and includes a drive belt 220, which extends from the motor to the pulley 216.

As can be seen from FIG. 5, the trunnion tires 108 of the crusher heads 96 and 98 are adapted to rest on the respective trunnion rollers 194, 198, 202 and 210 in a fashion where the drum member 94 is cradled therebetween, such as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

Thus, with the activation of motor 218 the drive trunnion roller wheels 202 and 210 will in turn rotate the drum member 94 in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction as desired.

Additionally, the preferred structure of the rotary drive means 188 includes setscrews 222, which engage the adjustable bearing means 191 so that they may be moved angularly on the pillow blocks 198 to assure annular trunnion tires 108.

The feed mechanism and injector, generally designated 224, for introducing the feed material such as cement clinkers into the drum member 94, includes a hopper 226 through which the proper cradling of the the material is fed to a variable-speed conveyor belt 228 extending from the hopper through the opening 186 in the end cone 184 of the rear crusher head 98. The hopper assembly 226 is mounted on a support member 230 and is preferably adapted to be swiveled from side to side so that the material which is introduced through the hopper 226 on to the conveyor belt 228 may be injected into the drum member 94 whereby it will strike the moving crushing roller 166 just below the top center of the roller and scatter. In other words, if the hopper 226 is angled to the right material will strike the upper right descending quadrant of the roller 166, whereas if the hopper is swiveled to the left the material injected from the conveyor 228 will strike the roller at the left-hand upper descending quadrant of the roller. In that way, it will be assured that there will be a proper distribution and scattering of material to be crushed and ground within the drum member 94.

The conveyor belt 228 is preferably driven by a variablespeed motor, not shown, to insure the proper speed of injection of the new feed and recycled material whereby it will strike the roller along the descending portion and distribute the material to the autogenous action zones.

Turning now to the lower exit port or descending funnel member 76, as best seen in FIG. 5, there is mounted in the throat of the member 76 a control air trap, generally designated 232. The trap includes an angular deflector plate 234 and parallel sidewalls 236 which extend into the throat 80 of the lower exit port 76. Mounted over an opening in the sidewalls 236 are a pair of trapdoors 238.

When the dry crusher 20 is in a static position, i.e., running empty of feed materials, the doors 238 will be in a closed position, flush against the opening in the sidewalls 236. However, when feed material is being crushed and ground within the drum member 94 and exited through the annular spaces 164, between the grinding-ring liners 150, certain of the material by gravity will fall through the passage 106 to the funnel lower exit port '72 forcing the trapdoors 238 inwardly and discharge through the throat 80 onto a conventional conveyor system 240 to be delivered for further processing or storage. Preferably the doors 238 are reinforced rubberized fabric.

Mounted within the frustoconical upper exit port 60 is a diffuser unit, generally designated 242. The unit 242 is suspended partially in the throat 78 and partially within the interior of the frustoconical upper exit port 60 by means of suspension brackets 244 and includes a plurality of circular bands 2460, 24 6b and 2460. The circular bands 246a, 2461: and 246s are vertically concentrically arranged as viewed in FIG. 16 and are vertically spaced one from the other as seen in FIG. 5. The vertical spacing is accomplished by means of a plurality of diffuser blades 248 which extend around the perimeter of the respective bands 246a, 246k and 246c and extend outwardly and downwardly from the band above to the band below and are arranged at an approximately 45 angle relative to the vertical. The blades 248 that extend outwardly from the lower band 246a terminate on a horizontal plane but the ends remote from hand 246s are free of securement.

It can be seen that the spaces 2511 created within the diffuser unit between the respective diffuser blades 248 will allow material which is to be discharged to be pulled through the dif fuser unit and out the upper throat 78. The angle of the diffuser blades 248 will cause air being pulled through the crusher, to be subsequently explained, to swirl in a clockwise direction under the diifuser 242 throwing the large particles of material radially outward for gravitational fall through channel 106 to the lower exit 76. The airborne dust and extreme finesare carried on the air current through the spaces 250 to be readily exited from the upper exit port 60.

In operation there is secured to the upper exit port 60 exterior of the upper crossmembers 48 any type of conventional air circuit which includes a tube 252 which is secured thereto.

The air circuit system is adapted to pull air through the openings in the front end cone 178 and the opening 186 in the rear end cone 184 into the drum member 94, out through the peripheral discharge openings 164 and thence to the diffuser unit 242 and the tube 252 to a storage area or for further processing of the material being crushed and refined in the drum member 94.

In the preferred embodiment it has been found that the air circuit system, not shown, should operate at a rate of 2,000 cubic feet per minute when the diameter of the grinding-ring liners are approximately 6 feet and the combined thickness of all of the grinding-ring liners equals approximately 4 feet.

The air pulled by the air circuit unit through the respective openings 180 and 186 act as a carrying agent to draw the airborne dust, which are the finely ground particles of material such as cement, through the annular discharge openings 164 and around the annular channel 106 to the diffuser 242. As stated above, if the airborne dust contains oversized particles they will be swirled out or strike the diffuser blades 248 and be deflected downward into the channel 106 for discharge by gravity through the control trap 232 at the bottom of the dry crusher 20.

In order to feed material to the crusher, new material which can include recycled or new material is flowed into the hopper 226 and onto the variable-speed conveyor 228 where it will be injected into the drum member 94 against the crushing roller 166. As the drum member 94 is rotated in a clockwise direction as an illustration, the freely rotatable crusher roller 166 will also rotate in a clockwise direction maintaining a position generally at the bottom of the drum member 94, such as is shown in FIGS. 4 and 7. As the material by gravity spills off of the crusher roller 166 it will generally move to an area in the right and left lower quadrants of the grinding roller 166 between the lower quadrants and the inner surface 152 of the grinding-ring liner. This space 254 is known as the autogenous action zone where the crushing and grinding operation takes place.

With the rotation of the ring liners, such as seen in FIG. 7, in a clockwise direction, there will be a grinding in this autogenous action zone 254 between the roller 166 and the ring liners, causing the material which has been fed to the drum member 94, such as Portland cement clinkers, to be ground and pulverized. As the grinding takes place the material 256 which has been reduced fine enough to pass between the annular discharge openings 164 between the respective ring liners 150 will flow outward into the chamber 106 for discharging through the upper exit port 60 if the material is fine enough to be considered dust or out through the bottom control trap 232 to be either further processed or bagged as the case may be.

With the rotation of the drum 94 and roller 166 the material in the autogenous action zone 254 will be spewed up behind the crushing roller 166 during crushing. In this way increased air separation of the particles may be accomplished because air being pulled in by the air circuit system will pick up the dispersed material for discharge.

As can be seen from the drawings, specifically FIGS. 5 and 7, the roller 166 and the inner surfaces 152 of the respective grinding-ring liners 150 create a direct or broad crushing front and grinding area on a controlled blanket ofincoming material in a continuous application of entrapping large and small particles of the material 256 alike, with a full force of the avoirdupois weight of the grinding roller 166, the driven power of the drum member 94 through the rotary drive means 188, centrifugal force caused by the rotation of the drum member 94 and the momentum of the unit, all taking place in the autogenous zone 254. One of the advantages is that where the annular space 164 between the respective grinding-ring liners 150, there can be immediate discharge of sized particles downward through the spaces into the chamber 106 for discharge. As material is being discharge through the respective spaces 164, new material is being added through the hopper or recycled material, and as can be seen there will be little or no metal to metal contact between the grinding roller 166 and the grinding-ring liners 150 when in full operation. Such advantages of course will mean comparatively small amount of wear on the respective metal parts.

With the construction as hereinbefore described, it can be seen that in a dry crushing operation at which this invention is primarily directed, air being pulled in through the respective cones 178 and 184 at a relatively rapid rate depending upon the size of the air control unit and the size of the dry crusher 20, there will be a cooling action on the material 256 being crushed and ground which will reduce the interior heat of the drum member 94 and of the material 256 which is particularly important if the material ground and refined in the crusher 20 is to be discharged for further refining operation. It is well known in the art that continuous grinding or refining of a product, such as Portland cement clinkers with gypsum additives wherein the heat rise or buildup is greater than 220 F., will convert the gypsum fraction into a form of plaster of Paris which produces a subgrade finished product. Thus, with the airflow the heat buildup in this invention is well under the industry limit.

It has been found that when this dry crusher 20 is placed in a closed circuit with other apparatus for grinding and classifying the size and particles of cement, such as is schematically illustrated in FIG. 17 and more specifically identified, described and claimed in my pending U.S. Pat. application, Ser. No. 589,134, filed Oct. 24, 1966, recycled materials entering the hopper 226 are trapped in the autogenous action zone 254 and reduced finer. Such crushing assures a direct automatic increase in the rate of the new feed material which is entering through the hopper 226 in proportion to the quantity of recycled materials trapped in the autogenous action zone 254 created between the roller 166 and the grinding-ring liners 150.

The air circuit will of course pull out a fraction of airborne dust and extreme fines, as the mixed materials are injected into the crusher, and it is estimated that 30 to 35 percent of the recycled material escapes through the discharge of the crusher, out the upper exit port 60.

While the dry crusher 20, previously described, can easily be adapted to a closed-circuit grinding operation, such as schematically illustrated in FIG. 17, it should be noted that the dry crusher 20 can be adapted for individual use, where material discharged is not recycled or passed to further fin ishing process but may be immediately discharged as a final end product.

Further, while the invention heretofore described is particularly adapted for the preparation of cement clinkers, it should be realized that any type of product may be ground therein where it is desired to achieve a fineness of the material at least as small as the spaces 164 created between the respective grinding-ring liners 150. As an illustration of the material that could be ground and could be refined in the crusher 20, certain types of ore such as taconite, which is a form of iron ore, may be crushed by a dry process within the crusher 20. Further, the crusher 20 can also be easily used to convert rounded nonsalable gravel products into sharp sand of specific specifications, depending on the diameter of the spaces 164 between the grinding-ring liners 150. The spacers 156 are readily removable and other spacers of varying thicknesses may be inserted to create smaller or larger annular spaces 164 between the respective grinding-ring liners 150, depending on the specification desired.

It has been estimated that the dry crusher 20 when in operation and included in a closed circuit with other apparatus, such as a ball mill, etc., illustrated schematically in FIG. 17, will do approximately 82.5 percent of all of the reductive work from the initial feed material of cement clinkers to desirable products of Portland cement. The material delivered from the crusher 20 will be totally without heat buildup to the touch and will require only approximately 17.5 percent further reductive fine grinding and sizing to become a desirable Portland cement product.

What is claimed is:

1. A dry fine crusher associated with an externally created air circuit to draw air through said crusher under variable velocity control. Said dry fine crusher adapted to crush and grind feed material into a conglomerate pattern of finely comprising togenous action zone defined between said grinding-ring liners H and said downwardly depending face of said crusher roller whereby feed material in said zone may be crushed and ground as said drum member and said roller rotate; an upper airflow discharge port in said housing and communicating with said annular discharge channel, a diffuser means associated with said upper discharge port adapted to swirl air therebeneath and deflect weighted oversized particles from passage therethrough, yet allowing discharge of airborne material dust therethrough; a lower gravity flow discharge port in said housing opposite said upper port and communicating with said discharge channel adapted to gravitational discharge of feed material particles therethrough; air and feed material intake means in said drum member, and means for imparting rotation to said drum member.

2. A dry fine crusher as defined in claim 1, wherein said air is exited through said upper airflow discharge port.

3. A dry fine crusher as defined in claim 1, wherein said grinding-ring liners are maintained in lateral spaced relationship by replaceable shims annularly arranged between the respective grinding-ring liners.

4. A dry fine crusher as defined in claim 1, wherein said defuser includes tiers of baffle plates wherein the baffle plates of each tier are annularly arranged.

5. A dry fine crusher as defined in claim 4, wherein each tier diminishes in diameter one from the other and the uppermost tier is seated within said upper airflow discharge port, while the lowermost tier is positioned in the particle conveyance channel across the discharge port.

6. A dry fine crusher as defined in claim 1, wherein said air and feed intake means includes a pair of opposed openings on said center axis, and one of said openings includes an adjustable feed injection conveyor adapted to direct and distribute said feed material against said crusher roller.

7. A dry fine crusher as defined in claim I, wherein said grinding-ring liners each includes a generally vertical side and an opposed side canted from the vertical, and wherein said grinding-ring liners are arranged with a vertical side of a ring liner facing the canted side of an adjacent ring liner whereby said space created between said ring liners increases annularly outwardly to said discharge channel.

8. A dry fine crusher as defined in claim 1, wherein said housing is suspended from support means and is fixed against rotation.

9. A dry fine crusher as defined in claim 1, wherein said lower gravity flow discharge port includes air trap means adapted to prevent the intake of air therethrough.

10. A dry fine crusher associated with an externally created air circuit to draw air through said crusher under variable velocity control, said dry fine crusher adapted to crush and grind dry feed material into a conglomerate pattern of finely crushed particles of acceptable size and unacceptable size and discharge the same, comprising a fixed housing, a rotatable drum member mounted in said housing and having annular spaces for the peripheral discharge of said particles, a freely rotatable crusher roller within said drum member as said drum rotates forming a crushing zone between said roller and said drum to crush and grind said dry feed material, means associated with said drum member for injecting feed material therein, a first discharge port in said housing adapted to receive and pass said acceptable size particles of said dry feed material, a second discharge port in said housing spaced from said first discharge port and adapted to receive and pass said unacceptable size particles for further crushing and gnndlng,

and means for rotating said drum member.

11. A dry fine crusher as defined in claim 10, wherein said first discharge port includes a diffuser means to prevent the passing of unacceptable size particles of dry feed material.

12. A dry fine crusher as defined in claim 10, adapted to crush and grind Portland cement clinkers.

13. A dry fine crusher as defined in claim 10, wherein said air is exited through said first discharge port.

14. A dry fine crusher as defined in claim 10, wherein said second discharge port includes air trap means adapted to prevent the intake of air therethrough. 

1. A dry fine crusher associated with an externally created air circuit to draw air through said crusher under variable velocity control. Said dry fine crusher adapted to crush and grind feed material into a conglomerate pattern of finely crushed particles and dust and discharge the same, comprising a housing: a drum member within said housing and rotatable about a central axis, said drum member including a plurality of vertically aligned and laterally spaced-apart grinding-ring liners; said grinding-ring liners creating annular discharge spaces therebetween; an annular discharge channel formed between said drum member and said housing; a freely rotatable crusher roller cradled by said grinding-ring liners and including an axis parallel with the axis of said drum member and having at all times a downwardly depending face; an autogenous action zone defined between said grinding-ring liners and said downwardly depending face of said crusher roller whereby feed material in said zone may be crushed and ground as said drum member and said roller rotate; an upper airflow discharge port in said housing and communicating with said annular discharge channel, a diffuser means associated with said upper discharge port adapted to swirl air therebeneath and deflect weighted oversized particles from passage therethrough, yet allowing discharge of airborne material dust therethrough; a lower gravity flow discharge port in said housing opposite said upper port and communicating with said discharge channel adapted to gravitational discharge of feed material particles therethrough; air and feed material intake means iN said drum member, and means for imparting rotation to said drum member.
 2. A dry fine crusher as defined in claim 1, wherein said air is exited through said upper airflow discharge port.
 3. A dry fine crusher as defined in claim 1, wherein said grinding-ring liners are maintained in lateral spaced relationship by replaceable shims annularly arranged between the respective grinding-ring liners.
 4. A dry fine crusher as defined in claim 1, wherein said defuser includes tiers of baffle plates wherein the baffle plates of each tier are annularly arranged.
 5. A dry fine crusher as defined in claim 4, wherein each tier diminishes in diameter one from the other and the uppermost tier is seated within said upper airflow discharge port, while the lowermost tier is positioned in the particle conveyance channel across the discharge port.
 6. A dry fine crusher as defined in claim 1, wherein said air and feed intake means includes a pair of opposed openings on said center axis, and one of said openings includes an adjustable feed injection conveyor adapted to direct and distribute said feed material against said crusher roller.
 7. A dry fine crusher as defined in claim 1, wherein said grinding-ring liners each includes a generally vertical side and an opposed side canted from the vertical, and wherein said grinding-ring liners are arranged with a vertical side of a ring liner facing the canted side of an adjacent ring liner whereby said space created between said ring liners increases annularly outwardly to said discharge channel.
 8. A dry fine crusher as defined in claim 1, wherein said housing is suspended from support means and is fixed against rotation.
 9. A dry fine crusher as defined in claim 1, wherein said lower gravity flow discharge port includes air trap means adapted to prevent the intake of air therethrough.
 10. A dry fine crusher associated with an externally created air circuit to draw air through said crusher under variable velocity control, said dry fine crusher adapted to crush and grind dry feed material into a conglomerate pattern of finely crushed particles of acceptable size and unacceptable size and discharge the same, comprising a fixed housing, a rotatable drum member mounted in said housing and having annular spaces for the peripheral discharge of said particles, a freely rotatable crusher roller within said drum member as said drum rotates forming a crushing zone between said roller and said drum to crush and grind said dry feed material, means associated with said drum member for injecting feed material therein, a first discharge port in said housing adapted to receive and pass said acceptable size particles of said dry feed material, a second discharge port in said housing spaced from said first discharge port and adapted to receive and pass said unacceptable size particles for further crushing and grinding, and means for rotating said drum member.
 11. A dry fine crusher as defined in claim 10, wherein said first discharge port includes a diffuser means to prevent the passing of unacceptable size particles of dry feed material.
 12. A dry fine crusher as defined in claim 10, adapted to crush and grind Portland cement clinkers.
 13. A dry fine crusher as defined in claim 10, wherein said air is exited through said first discharge port.
 14. A dry fine crusher as defined in claim 10, wherein said second discharge port includes air trap means adapted to prevent the intake of air therethrough. 